HOTD: The Westeros Kickback Season 3 Episode 2

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[00:02:13] Hey, what's up, fam? And welcome back again to Recap Kickback presents Hot D, the Westeros Kickback. That's right. It's me, your host, Chappelle. And we are back again to talk about Season 3 of House of the Dragon. This time, Season 3, Episode 2, which I believe is named Queen's Landing. A nice touch. And with me, per usual, to talk about this show. And maybe to lace us up on some of the things that the book is different about. It's Mari Forth. Mari, welcome back. Hello. We are back again.

[00:02:42] Another episode. Really good episode. But I just can't help to think that this would have been a great episode to, like, you know, end Season 2 on. End Season 2. Yeah. But what do I know? You know? Just a whole maester out here. But what do I know? Well, yeah. We got... Mari has some maester questions. And so because of that, we called in another... A backup maester, if you will. Someone else who is familiar with the books. And someone who has been on this podcast before to talk about A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and Dunkin' Egg,

[00:03:12] we have got Mr. Robot himself, Taren Armstrong. Taren, welcome back. Thank you. I love your intro. Thank you. It's so good. Thank you. I'm not... Taren, please. Keep going. I, the maester, have manned this post with many rulers coming in and out. So just... Exactly. Please allow me to keep my head. Yeah. No, you're good. We'll find somebody else to throw under the bus, I'm sure. Because, yeah, heads are rolling here.

[00:03:41] And we have a lot to talk about in this episode. But first, Mari, you know, hopefully the people at home are listening to this or watching this podcast on YouTube, youtube.com slash at Recap Kickback. And they're doing it with their custom-made House of the Dragon lava lamp cup. What do you call these? Drip cups? These are lava cups. And we can't do them because we have things in them because we use them. But they look cool

[00:04:10] when you put them upside down. Yeah. I can shake it up a little bit, but I got my juice in here today. And so I have my cup. It has Team Green. Not a great episode for the Greens if you think they're going to win anything here. It looks like... Maybe I'm Team Allison. I don't know. But Mari's Team Black cups look really good today. Team Black. Team Black. Yes. Thank you to everyone who has bought some cups. We've been moving some cups. Thank you so much. People have been repping their set lots of Team Black.

[00:04:40] Chappell, let me just say, I haven't had any orders for Team Green because people want to be on the right side of history. But yes, if you want your very own House of the Dragon cups, you can go to maricraftstomuch.bigcartel.com. Yes, that is my book Tumblr themed website. I love making custom Tumblr's book-based, but I can put anything on Tumblr. So if there's something

[00:05:09] on there that you... If there's something you don't see on there that you want, just reach out to me and we can make a cup together. So thank you to... Thank you to... Seriously, thank you to all of our listeners who have put in orders who have reached out to me and who have gone back and forth with me on custom cups. We also got... I also got a few Vampire Lestat orders. So I'm so excited to make those. So it's been real fun. Thank you to everybody for the support. We're going to have some... We're going to try to get a cup made

[00:05:39] for every show we cover here on Recap Kickback and just keep these orders coming. Keep Mari working over there, all right? So yeah, if you have been keeping up with our Vampire Lestat coverage or our interview with Vampire coverage, perfect time to get a cup for that too and check out that podcast because it will drop later on this week. But let's get those niceties out the way and talk about this episode. First and foremost, we have Taryn here. Taryn, tell us. Season three, we're two episodes in. What is your feeling about House of Dragon, where we left off and kind of where we are right now?

[00:06:09] I got to say, I loved season one. I really liked season two most of the way through. I think I was higher on it than most. I was certainly disappointed in the ending and sort of the direction that the ending seemed to be pointing in in terms of like the secret rendezvous. But I still felt like I was higher because so many people were so mad and I was like, and then like, you know, three years passed.

[00:06:39] I don't even know at this point. And I got to say, but when it came back around, I was kind of like, nah. Like I wasn't, I wasn't really into it. I watched both of these two episodes today. I would have watched it, but I was late to it because I wasn't like super excited to watch it. That said, I watched that first episode and I was like, oh, this is fun. Yeah, I like this.

[00:07:09] This is, I'm enjoying this. And I feel like I'm right back on that train of like, yeah, I feel like this is still a good show. I still really like this show. I think it just, it was such a long gap and it, let me tell you, it took me like 30 minutes of that first episode to get back into the swing of things before. Thank you. It just throws you back in. I was like, wait, where am I? Hold on. They don't even say the people's names. That's my issue.

[00:07:39] It's like, say their names. You have to, you have to introduce them like it's a new season. You gotta, you know, it's been a minute. Taryn, I'm a little surprised to hear that, that you took a little time off because, you know, I think for me, my trepidation came after Game of Thrones. The way it ended, I was like, I don't know if I want to do the dragon thing again. I'm sorry. But honestly, the dunking egg is what really kept me going for this one. I thought that the Hedge Knight, the Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, that was done so well,

[00:08:09] you know, as somebody who has not read the book, but I really enjoyed the show that that kind of gave me the motivation to come into this fired up. See, I feel like it was the opposite for me. I was like, see, that's, that's what you do when you do it well. That like, now I feel like my standards are higher. And to some degree, they are. I still do have some issues in general with what I think this could have been. But, but, but like, there's also like not a whole lot else going on on TV right now.

[00:08:39] Although Big Brother's about to start. So, you know, I'm having fun with it. I enjoyed these. I'm like, like, like James, my husband was the exact same way. He's like, I, we waited two, three years for this. I don't know. And he was almost like, keep it. And, and HBO,

[00:09:11] they're like, oh, you're going to watch it. So we don't care. But I would really love to see like the numbers on this. Like, I would really love to see if it's as high as it was for like the first two seasons because there's no reason to prolong it this long. You know what I'm saying? Especially when, when they normally have the season wrapped like a year and a half after, a year after, you know. So, it was just, it, it really stunted.

[00:09:40] It really, it really stunted like where we were in the story, our feelings for it. We talked about it last week. But at the very least, I think, I thought this episode did a good job of really like pulling me back in. Because as we talked about last week, we knew, me and Taryn, knew what was coming in this first episode, in that first episode and with Jace's death. And waiting that two years

[00:10:09] kind of takes the wind out of the sail of the, you know, the death itself was like, I was like, dang, that sucks. You know what I'm saying? But I think this episode is where I was like, ah! Like, I was like, I was, I was right there, I was right there, I was like, ah! My baby! You know, I know, I was, I had the mama tears going. So, at least, episode two is starting on a good trajectory in a sense of getting us

[00:10:38] immersed back into the world. But HBO, it, the production just does, did a horrible job of, of letting their fans just stew and wait and then try to thrust us back in. Yeah, and potentially lose interest, you know, so you don't want to do that. Yeah. But I, I did enjoy this episode a lot. You know, I am team green, you know, but I know how this is going to end. We've seen Game of Thrones. We know where this is going. But it is fun to be at a root for these sides and then you have to remember

[00:11:08] that this is a war and that people are dying and, you know, and so, although we might win certain battles or lose certain battles, it's really the people that are getting lost a lot in the shuffle here, Mari, because, like you told me last episode, I came around from last episode, like, man, I'm so glad my cup says team green. RIP Jace. How's that going? Mari's like, we won that fight. I said, oh, that's crazy because it didn't look like it to me. So many casualties of war right now, Mari. Yeah, exactly. And the opening with, like,

[00:11:38] like showing Jace's body, but then kind of just showing another random body, like float across the TV, it just hits home. It's like, yeah, we lost Jace, but look at all these other lives that were lost in this battle and the true cost of war and the true, like, the repercussions of the Battle of the Gullet. Like, nobody wins when the family feuds, right? Right. So, it,

[00:12:08] this, this war is literally just going to get bloodier and bloodier and bloodier until we get to the bloody conclusion. And I, I think this is the episode where it's like, yeah, we're about to turn up. Right. Now, Taryn, Rhaenyra is struggling with this, obviously. Her, her son is dead. Another son is dead. And this is the cost of her and this, her pursuit of the throne. You know, the people are saying it shouldn't be a woman. Maybe it shouldn't be a woman. Maybe we should find a male heir. But she's like, nah,

[00:12:38] this is for me. But at some point throughout this episode, a couple points probably, she's thinking, damn, is it worth it? Is this really worth it? The odds for me to sit on a throne of blades and to rule, you know, even though I think in a lot of ways she might feel like it's predestined, it looks like she's struggling with the cost of, you know, what she envisions as her future, but like at the price of everybody else that she loves. Yeah. And I think, I think that, you know, obviously,

[00:13:09] you know, this is deviated so far from the books that there's going to be a lot of people who read the books are like, this is not the character. And honestly, I'm not really sure it fully tracks with like the season one version of the character that we saw, but I do think it tracks with the season two version of the character that we saw. And in my head, it's kind of like there's the character from the books that they kind of started with and then they started going, actually, screw you, George, we don't like you very much. We don't want to work with you.

[00:13:37] And kind of morphed Alicent and Rhaenyra into their own version of the character. And I think you, if you're going to watch the show, you just kind of have to accept that there's a different, different person. And, and so according to this version of that character, I can see where this is coming from, right? Like, instead of this like sort of fiery rage, it's just like, well, what do I even have? Like, what is the purpose of any of it at this point?

[00:14:07] What am I doing? And, and she's had doubts before, but, but now, now they're, they're, you know, tenfold. And, and I think that, that, that Damon coming in and kind of being like, come on, you got to go do this. You can't let it be for nothing is, is just sort of another example of kind of like the men in her life continuing to make decisions for her, try to make decisions for her. Uh, and, um,

[00:14:37] and, and her sort of like place in this world of men and kings and wars, uh, and, and where she fits into it. And I think the end of the episode tries to, tries to answer that question, but I don't think we're quite there yet. Oh yeah, I definitely got some thoughts about the end. Mari, this, this one night, the one that locked her in the, uh, the throne room or whatever in her quarters and allowed Jace to go out on this suicide mission. Uh, he's like, take my head. I can't live. I was like, Hey man, you got to live in this.

[00:15:06] You have to sit in this. You don't get to get your head chopped off and avoid all the blame. It'll be like, it can't be quick and dirty for you. You've got to be able to watch this woman fall to her knees and, you know, scream out in anguish at the pain that, you know, that essentially you cause she's this kid's mom. If she wants to sacrifice herself for him, she should be allowed to. Uh, and she, that was taken from her. All agency was taken from her. Yeah. And, and that's kind of what I've been grappling with the TV portrayal of both,

[00:15:36] uh, Rhaenyra and Alicent, because for me as a book reader, I love the historical context of like, basically these two women go to war and it's basically the, the beginning of the fall of the house Targaryen. You know what I'm saying? I love the portrayal of them being like two strong women, um, questing for power,

[00:16:07] uh, and trying to seize it for themselves. I love that portrayal. I know me and Taryn talked about this in the first season. I didn't let like at the green council in the first season when I was like, I didn't necessarily like how Alicent was being more of a pawn as opposed to taking the reins. And it has just continued here into season three. And we see it a lot in this episode. We talked about last week, Chappelle, when she was locked into the room about,

[00:16:37] um, them taking her agency and stuff like that. And Chappelle, you made a great argument. It's because like the true enemy is supposed to be the patriarchy in this show. And I get that, but I still kind of miss and want the portrayal of like the, like a strong one, like two strong women butting heads. And I, I am thinking I'm grappling with the fact that I'm going to have to let that go, um, at least for right now.

[00:17:06] Uh, but I, I just don't like the thought of both Rhaenyra and Allison essentially being pawns in this, in this world when I, I just really liked them making the moves. All of that aside, this, this opening with Rhaenyra and Jace as a mother, I was legit like tearing thug tears because I was like,

[00:17:36] I just cannot imagine. Oh my God. Um, uh, the actor, um, what, what's Rhaenyra's actor's name again? Is that Emma D'Arcy? Oh no. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, yes, I believe so. They, they did amazing in that role. Like I was the, the moment that Rhaenyra comes around the corner and she, she basically has the conversation

[00:18:04] that she was going to have with Jace when he came back. You know what I'm saying? Like, what did you do? How, why would you do, you know, it's, it's the conversation that she was locked in her room thinking about, man, when he comes back, I am going to tear him a new one. And then he comes back and your child is dead. And it's that, that denial and then that realization, but still having that, that same conversation and the conversation still be fitting

[00:18:33] in this scenario. And that broke me. I was like, like, I was, it was so bad. Like, I was, I was so upset. And, and, and that, that whole opening moment just really like, again, I, I wasn't mad that she showed emotion. I was actually very glad that she was able to show emotion and really just ream into everybody. Like y'all off me up, man.

[00:19:03] F all. Um, but making, um, I forget his name. Cause he, his name rhymes with the other guy's name. Uh, but yeah, they, yeah. Um, being like, no, you, no, you, you gonna stay here. And if we need to sacrifice somebody, you might be the first to be sacrificed. Right. But yeah. And, and it did take a little nudging from, from Damon, but she did get, she did get up. Uh,

[00:19:32] I do again in the, in the book, um, at this point, it's like, um, grief is a funny thing. Um, when Rhaenyra lost her first son, it seemed to have broken her, but when she lost her second one, uh, it seemed to have given her a renewed sense of strength. So I think where we, they tried to get to that, like Taryn said at the end of the, um, episode, I just, um,

[00:20:00] I was just struggling with the portrayal as in how they wrote the character, but how, uh, the character was actually acted and portrayed was top notch. Yeah. I think, I think it's really interesting because, uh, the, the original story is a story of, of women, you know,

[00:20:24] contending in a patriarchal society and making very active moves against each other a lot of the time. And it did, it does feel like the show writers were like, we need to like make the patriarchy a stronger presence. And in doing so, they kind of stripped the, these primary, uh, protagonists of their agency in order to hit them against patriarchy more directly. Uh, right.

[00:20:54] Which is theoretically like a feminist concept, but I think in the process, they lost something really important, uh, about these characters. And, and I don't think that, that like strong women who are fighting wars and causing damage, that needs to be not against the patriarchy. They still grew up in the patriarchy. They, they are products of it, uh, in the book and, and they are acting violently according to that programming. Uh,

[00:21:24] whereas here it's kind of like, where is this lack of agency even coming from with these women? Like what in their, you know, uh, in their childhoods and growing up and their experiences gave them this kind of sensitivity and lack of agency to be doing these things. When everything that they've both been grown up to do has been to sort of like take charge and, and do these things. Um, so that's where I, I do.

[00:21:51] I feel that frustration because I do think that they've lost something in translation there. But yeah, as I said, I think at this point it's like, that's long gone. And so I'm kind of just trying to accept the characters as they are now. Yeah. I don't know the characters y'all know, you know what I'm saying? Like y'all read the book. So y'all know these characters, these two women that are at war. And I know two women that are like, we would love to be at war, but we can't because all of this other stuff is in a way. So we got to do what we can do. Right. And like, Alison, like, nah, I don't want no parts of this.

[00:22:20] I'm going to bring Rhaenyra and we're going to find peace. We're going to let Rhaenyra do her thing, but she still has to deal with the patriarchy and the, and the move she makes. I mean, there's even that scene where her and Damon decide, okay, well look, we're getting on these dragons. We're about to go see if Alison is telling the truth. We're about to go roll up on King's landing. And people are like, my queen, please. Are you, are you sure that looking at Damon still? He's like, Hey, she says she's good. She didn't stutter. You know, like that's kind of the vibe is that. Right. He's like, I don't, I think she was clear about her statement here. You know, it's very much like, Hey,

[00:22:50] she's a woman. Let me step in and like try to reason with her. And then you got, finally you got Damon there to be like, she said what she said and it shouldn't take him. Right. Cause she is essentially, she's the King, right. She's in charge. So they should just get out of the way, but that's not how they've been acting toward her. And so, yeah, we've been seeing like a gradual shift where, you know, she's, she's slowly started to get a little bit more of that, just like absolute power that she should have.

[00:23:18] Because it hasn't been the case that since, you know, for about a season or so now at this point, I'm Mark. I asked you last episode about Corliss, you know, someone else who we could have lost, but he's back and look, it's families together. Yay. Wow. Yay. Missing one. At what cost? Missing a granddaughter there who had a bit of a wild episode as well. Oh yeah. We definitely need to talk about her, but yeah,

[00:23:47] Corliss has, he survived, which is cool. But his stuff, he's like, I have nothing else except my name to give you Alan. And, you know, very proud of you, but this is it. And so it's a very cool moment for Corliss. It's very humanizing, you know, seeing him have to reconcile his feelings for his bastards and, you know, and for like the loss that he suffered here. Because although they won, it doesn't really feel like it. I mean, Bela lost her betrothed, right? Or betrothed,

[00:24:17] betrothed, betrothed. Yeah. Yeah. Is it wrong that my thought running through most of that scene was, does gold burn? Right. Right. Is it a, maybe they just stole it before they burned it down and that's why it's gone. Yeah. Exactly. But he wouldn't know. It was, it, it, it, it, I did like this scene. I, I liked, uh, the house of Valerian, uh, Valerion,

[00:24:47] however they say it. Um, and kind of like a weird reunion. And it's like a airing of the grievances. It, it, I must say it was a very black thing to do. It was kind of like, team black people. I'm going to order a different club. Yeah. Team black people. Right. Because it was very much like laughing at a funeral. Like we're, we're at the funeral and we like, damn,

[00:25:17] we done lost everybody. Uh, but we good. I mean, we'll figure it out. Shit. Like, yeah, that's what, that's exactly what it felt like. It felt like they were just like, well, we'll figure it out. And I mean, they needed this moment, a lot of context in this, in this scene. And a lot of things that'll, of course, um, as the series go on, goes on, um, will make more sense. But I, I,

[00:25:44] I did something about just taking a minute in wartime and just being like, no, we really like, this is happening. We want people are gone. And they love being like, I'm sick of losing people. Like somebody, somebody on Tik TOK said, um, Bela lost her, her grandma, her mom, her, uh, cousin, husband, like, her,

[00:26:12] her great granddaddy, like her great uncle, her uncle. It was so funny. I was like, dang, they right. Yeah. But she's probably not having a bad day as, uh, this one right here. We got to talk about it. Um, Taryn, you already kind of flagged it up. Bay, Bay, Bay, Bay, Bay, Bay, right. Raina, Raina, got it. She's having an awful day. This lady, this lady's going through. This was,

[00:26:39] this was maybe my least favorite scene of the episode. It was so strange. And this is genuinely, I know this is not from the books, but like, I don't even remember exactly how this iteration of this sequence of events, cause it wasn't even the same scene, but either way, it's just like, it made no sense to me character wise that she had, like, she went on a joyride on the dragon and all of a sudden is like,

[00:27:06] I'm now an enemy of the state and I fully accept my role as enemy of the state. And I'm no longer going to go back to my family. And I'm just going to hide out. Like, wait, what? Yeah. None of it made sense. Is it that she, so she feels guilty about Jace. She's like, Oh, this is my fault. I'm in trouble. I need to hide here in the veil. And they're like, yeah, but like, no, don't bring this mess to us. Um,

[00:27:35] we didn't ask for this. My crime to you person that has been nothing but rude to me. Nothing but rude. That was still rude. This lady like, Hey, look, you can let your dragon stay here. Cause what am I really going to do to stop it? But make no mistake. I bet not see your ass no more. Which could have happened regardless. Why did you need to have the conversation? Right. Um, so Mari, what'd you take from this scene? Uh, with Raina kind of, she looked confused for sure. But, uh, how do you feel? Confusion.

[00:28:06] Because like lady Jane, lady Jane has been, she has been prickly this whole time, which again is kind of like, okay. Like, well, that's her family too. Like we know this, right? Like if anybody's forgotten, like lady Jane, Aaron was related, is related to Raina, Rainira's mom. So like that's, that's Rainira's blood right there too. And then on top of that,

[00:28:32] she has a political reason to back Rainira because she is a woman ruling in the veil. And if they start to say that a woman, a woman can't sit on the iron throne and can't, um, inherit the throne, they could come for her, her lordship or her nobleship. So why are you so mad? I mean, I get it. I do remember Rainira did pull the bait and switch on her and say, you want a dragon? Here's a, here's a puppy dragon, but still like, you're, you know,

[00:29:02] I don't, I don't know why she's so mad. And like Taryn said, even if we're taking it out of the book, because taking the book out of this, because this is whole cloth, all made up. It just, this is just so far from it. It, it just does not make sense. Like Raina, just, just go home, say my bad. I, I tried to help. She do the, locked her in a room to keep his head. Like,

[00:29:32] like niece is going to be fine. Yes, Exactly. Exactly. She was like, I didn't, I didn't know this dragon had the black forces. I didn't realize it. Right. And, and you just, they just lost a dragon. So, you know, they could, they would probably want to add her dragon to their strength. So it just, it just doesn't make sense to me. Cause like, so now she just going to be chilling in the veil right now until, well, very clearly they want her to fulfill a different role.

[00:30:02] From the books. And so they've like, just mashed her through, like she's a triangle and they just mashed her through like a square hole. They're like, it's like, okay. Yeah, exactly. There, a lot of these changes are, can probably just be chalked up to. They're like, we have this massive ensemble cast. And for a good portions of the books, the people aren't doing anything.

[00:30:31] So we kind of need them to be doing things like, and that's what I feel like with Alison told, and we'll talk about that. The bastards just sitting on the aisle of faces for a little bit. It's like, we have these people. So we have to figure out a way to get them some screen time. And it's, it's very interesting what they're deciding to do. I liked her ultimate pitch, which was, do you want the dragon or not? And she's like, okay, fine. You know,

[00:31:00] like I do appreciate that. But yeah, this is, it's tough to watch Raina struggle because she, she's got, she's had a pretty bad day, you know, all things considered. She was kidnapped by that dragon. You know, she can say she went on a joyride while she won, but she was not in charge. I think in the first episode, the dragon was bringing her food, like here, have some food. And she's like, thank you. Thank you, sir. You know, she's lucky it didn't eat her. So I'm interested to see where she goes, especially knowing that she's like, not a character that's directly from the book. Like,

[00:31:30] obviously she's in the book, but this isn't her characterization. And so I like that we're kind of finding out where this is going together. Uh, we haven't talked about Damon much at all yet. And, um, he's having a great day, celebrating the death of these Lannisters. I saw lions on spikes. That's cool. Um, but then he gets the, um, the word from Sir Simon Strong. It's got some wine coming, but he also has a note that says, Hey, we lost Jace. Come on home. Uh,

[00:31:59] because we got things to do. I was really happy with the way Damon is portrayed here. I like, I was not a Damon guy throughout when he was in Heron Hall. I was like, y'all, y'all this y'all King really? Cause he tripping. Um, but here he immediately like, damn, not Jace. I gotta go. Y'all. I see y'all later. You know, I gotta go be with McQueen. Uh, and I really liked that. He goes by her side and he's able to pull her out of that grief. Taryn, you were mentioning that earlier that, you know, she's down on, she's down and out, but he's the one who kind of pokes and prods her to get her up and, and back on mission. Yeah.

[00:32:29] And this is the perfect role for, for Damon. I was a big critic of the Heron Hall arc. I thought that, you know, it was, it just really didn't go anywhere. And I think, I think this, this like episode kind of proves it because what even happened at Heron Hall that is worth, like, other than the facts, the vision, which is that he got the army and they did the thing, all of that trippy stuff. Like, where did it go? Not really anywhere in particular.

[00:32:57] He's back doing what he was basically doing before. And he's perfect in this role because he is, he is that dangerously comforting, uh, like presence where he is kind of guiding Rhaenyra in, in, into the direction we want her to go as the audience, but not necessarily the one that she wants to go in. Uh, and so he,

[00:33:21] he kind of clearly is in some ways representative of the like allure of patriarchy. Uh, he is, he is fully representative. He is the, the, the monarch that she is trying to be at the end of the episode. Uh, and he is guiding her in that direction for good or ill. Right. But you, when you're watching, you're like for good. Yeah. Like, go, yeah, go. They're bad-ass. Like go, yeah. Get her to go exact the town. Um, and, uh, and,

[00:33:48] and that's the perfect role for him because you want to see the appeal while understanding how dangerous he is. And that's, this is, this is the perfect version of that. Not when he's tripping balls. Yeah. Mari, when he, at first it felt like Damon was using her, you know, like he's like, I can't be in charge and charge, but you could be the figurehead and I'll just, you know, be the one who gets all the credit and, you know, gets to make all the decisions and just kind of push her out because like, sure, you're the queen. Sure. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep.

[00:34:15] But now it does feel like having the vision and the whole thing of hair hall and, you know, trying to sleep with his mom, uh, you know, all that kind of stuff really did lead him into where he's fully supportive of the, uh, the vision here, the, you know, this, this goal that Rhaenyra has. And, you know, he is the, he's her fist. Like he, he even says it like we're, we have to do that. Cause you know, a lot of people are not giving her the respect that she deserves. And so they're going to move, be moving in lockstep at this point. Uh, and like almost like physically too, you know,

[00:34:44] they're like walking on the same step. She, he opens the door, she walks in, you know, this, I think it's the partnership people have been waiting on for the last two seasons. Yeah. It's almost like he's been grooming her or something. Almost. Huh? Like at a very early age. Yeah. Um, but yeah, other than that, this, this has been, this was a great episode for Damon. This was a great episode for the, both of them. Like you said, as they're like slinking along and, and, um,

[00:35:14] the red keep and Damon takes down five guys. I was like, Oh, look at that. She just popped a lady boner. Look at me too. Cause that was, he was, he was looking fine. Shit. That's fine. Shit. What the kids would say. Um, he was just taking out all of those. Those guards. And, um, just the two of them moving through the red keep was great. And then not only that, but when they get to the part where they're in the red keep,

[00:35:42] why did she yell at the throne like that? Bring me a God. Like, girl, who are you talking to? But anyways, they're like, I got that there. He's not coming. Um, but he, he's not coming, but the, the moment that Damon really helps her is when, of course, uh, Sir Otto comes in and he's like, you know, you gotta do it. This is the moment you become queen. She whispers to him. I don't know if I can do it, but, and we know that as the audience,

[00:36:12] but he takes out his sword and hands it to her. And from the people looking outward to them, she probably, it looks like she, you know, just asked for the sword as opposed to like hesitating. He's like, you can't hesitate. You gotta do it. And I, I like again, that silent support. So he's like, no girl. He's like, I'm handing you the sword. Go do the thing. You know, she misses, but who cares? It got it. The head, the head came off. I didn't like the guy.

[00:36:42] I gotta stop you. Like, I gotta stop you both. This is a PR nightmare. Lady. You look, if you go swing the sword, you gotta look like you mean it. It's it. Mari. It felt like the equivalent of her pulling the trigger. It felt like she're pulling the trigger on a gun and then dropping the gun because of the recoil. Oh, you know what I'm saying? Lady, you gotta, you gotta do it. You know, this takes us back to, what is that? Game of Thrones episode one, where it's, um, you know, um, is it Ned Stark? Who's like, Hey, yeah, you gotta, you gotta swing. You gotta do,

[00:37:12] you gotta be able to do this. The one who says the sentence has to wield the sword. Yeah, exactly. And yeah. And so Damon is kind of like, I mean, I'll do it for you, but she needs to do it in this moment. I just think it's, I just don't think this is great PR because again, if people are questioning whether or not this woman has it in her, all these people in here watching her struggle to cut that. They're like, first of all,

[00:37:39] those are all people that were like imprisoned by the other regime. Anyway, they're already big fans. They're clapping. All you need to do like Damon, give them a, you, you guys know how to tell this story. You know, I saw one swing, right guys. We all saw one swing. Um, and then Damon had to show them. Yeah. Like, this is what happened. Mark, I need to know in the book,

[00:38:08] she get it in one, in one go, or is it like, it's also kind of choppy. All right. I don't, I don't think they remark on it, but I don't even know if she swung it. They literally just say, Sir Otto is the, just like you said, Sir Otto was the first to be beheaded. Right. That's, that sounds like the PR team, you know, like, Oh yeah. And then somebody, his head came off. Don't worry about how it happened. It's like, no, I saw her struggle.

[00:38:38] We, okay. We're there now. Let's talk about it. They get to King's landing. They, they are, they're thinking that they might have some struggles. Let's just say they get through all of that. We'll come back to how, but the big shocker here is that we, we have a surprise for Damon because a gone is gone. Aemond is gone, but we've been keeping somebody locked up just in case you ever came back. It's Otto Hightower.

[00:39:03] I am so sad that Otto Hightower is gone like this because he is a great character for TV. You know, all his little speeches and stuff like that. Season one, Otto was, you know, just like the, the golden state warriors that one year, you know, it was just like, he just, he couldn't miss, you know, like he was, he was doing so much. And I really like, listen, cut his head off. Fine. Whatever. He's a traitor. Get them, get them again. Like literally get them twice. Cause it's going to take that much for you chop his head off. But at that point,

[00:39:31] we got to really talk about how we lost such a dynamic character and we haven't seen Otto in days. He didn't get no speech or nothing. Like Mari. I just feel like, come on, man. I don't, I don't know. I just feel like you, you lost such a dynamic character and you didn't give them really a strong, like buildup to this. I feel like you could have made this, this episode and this death, uh, have a lot more gravity to it. To me. I mean, he does say, just get it over with. Because he,

[00:40:01] because the moment that he was removed from the hand, he saw this coming, you know what I'm saying? Like he, he saw this coming. He saw that without him as the, you know, the brains behind the operation, the greens were really not going anywhere. And the fact that he's in the cell, they said, courtesy of Sir Laris. So Laris strong, you know, here's a gift for you. Don't come after us, you know? Um, and I,

[00:40:30] I understand that, you know, it's kind of jarring for Sir Otto to just be gone like this, especially since I believe we haven't seen him since about halfway through the second season. Really? So, but I, I like this because there, the way the book kind of goes, there are surprises. Like people think that one thing is about to happen and then there's another strategic maneuver.

[00:40:56] And a lot of that stuff has been nerfed this season because they have to over-explain what the next move is. So not having anything, something over-explained to the audience and just seeing him come out, realize the gravity of the situation. It, it kind of harkens back to, you know, Ned losing his, his head at episode nine. It's something you just season one, episode nine, game of Thrones. You just don't see it coming. And then it happens. And you're like,

[00:41:26] I got it. You know? Mm-hmm. Yeah. I think like most things in these two episodes, it would have been a lot stronger if they had been episode nine and 10 of season two. So, you know, I, I think that's the thing that kind of like looms over at all of these events. Yeah. Um, but in terms of like the outcome here, I do, I, I love it. And I especially love it if it's the end of season two, because you've seen him in that season. Um,

[00:41:54] and it still feels random while still feeling connected to his previous, uh, appearances. But, um, um, but it's the perfect combination of like his own family's incompetence that he's unable to properly counteract and the sort of like rising power of the next generation of schemer, uh, as, uh, with Laris strong, uh, kind of like his downfall. Um, and I think that, uh, you know, ultimately this,

[00:42:20] this ending also just feels very fitting for the man who had such grand ambitions, uh, to have been locked in a cell, uh, by his own sort of squad, uh, served up on a platter to somebody who opened the gates, his own daughter opened the gates, uh, for, for her to come in and, and, and then, you know, fail to remove his head in one stroke. Like it's, it's story wise.

[00:42:50] It fits very well. And that's probably because the story wise, it does follow the similar beats from the books. Yeah. Um, I, yeah, I love Otto as a character. RIP the homie, but it, it did, it was time, right? Cause, uh, I think it's Otto's there. Then you can think the green's going to fight back. You know, the green's got something else. And now it's like, all right, the green's got a gone doing God knows, what Damon doing. God knows what it's like. All right. And then Alison, she's, she's basically surrendered. So, you know, at this point, like that that's over with.

[00:43:20] Um, so yeah, they kind of get Otto out of the way, but I am sad that we didn't get more time with him. Um, I think cause the last time we saw him, that was when he was getting smuggled off with, uh, Laris and that was the fake finale. Uh, and then like, it's been, you know, four episodes since then now. Oh, look, it's Otto. So, and so, um, you know, maybe just for me, I would have liked to see a little bit more of Otto Hightower. I want to go back to Damon and talk about some of his interactions with some of the other women in this episode. Mari Damon and the witch. She's like, Hey, before you go, just,

[00:43:50] I've done a lot of work for you, man. What if, what if I got here in hall? It's like, girl, you ain't even got no name. You got no man. Just laughing her face. Why don't you like? Like that's, that's never gone wrong in a story. Right. Exactly. Like Damon for, for all of the good that Damon did in this episode, he also did not do a lot of tactful things like treating, uh,

[00:44:19] Alice rivers, the, the witch of hair and hall like that, uh, treating the bastards. Like he, he could not stop hitting, uh, uh, what's his name? Oh, yeah. All the way back. Yeah. Off needed to get hit a little bit, but you're right, Mari, the way he's handling his, uh, his, uh, people, his crew is not great. You know, like you're, you're yelling it off and, uh,

[00:44:48] he was a hammer while you're also giving them two dragons to ride. You know, now what if they decide to do something freaky, you know, what if they decide to do a little extra, then, then what you going to do, you know? So I just feel like he's giving a lot of people, a lot of reasons to turn on him, uh, including Alice rivers, you know, with her saying, I've done my work for the queen. I would just like hair and all this is my place. Y'all really don't care about hair and hall at all. Look at it. Look around. Like this is, I just want this for me. Yeah. And he's like,

[00:45:17] I talk to the queen and see, and it's another conversation about the patriarchy. She's the one who says, so like, because I ain't got no name and I ain't got no man and I ain't got no, no title. I can't have anything, you know, like, sir, you can't see the parallel between the, the wife that you have your queen. I mean, like, cause if you ran this by Rhaenyra, if, if Alice rivers made this argument to Rhaenyra, I think this works. I think she's like, okay, sure. Take it, you know, but because it's Damon is laughable. Now,

[00:45:46] to be fair here to Damon, she is running a bit of a scam on him. No, like this is what people like, they go up on, you know, they give you like a rose and then they're like, that will be $20, please. Wait, what? I don't, you didn't name your price beforehand. I didn't ask for your help. Like, what are we doing here? You, you want the castle, the whole thing. He's like, I already gave it to somebody. It's not even mine to give no more. Yeah. He, she, she's a witch.

[00:46:16] She's doing witch stuff. I just feel like you should be a little bit, a little bit more cautious of people who call themselves witches. Cause you never know how it's going to go back to bite you. We saw his experience in Heron Hall and I blame her partly, you know, it's, it's haunted, but she's there too. And so, you know, I didn't think this was great for him. Yeah. Yeah. And we'll, and we'll get another glimpse of her before the episode is over. Mari, Damon's also kind of beefing with this, with Alison's, Rhaenyra's new advisor.

[00:46:45] Would you call her the white worm? White worm. Missaria. Yeah. His former, you know, lover. Paramore. Never proposed. Right. It was always, yeah, he was about to do that. She was pregnant at one point. Right. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. They're not getting along. Yeah. They're, they're having a battle for a Rhaenyra's ear. Yeah, exactly. And it's, and it's really interesting because you've, again,

[00:47:15] I forget that Damon has not been at a Dragonstone for so long. You know what I'm saying? Like, and he's like, when I left you, we were in a cell. We were in a cell. How'd you get out? Yeah. She's like, yeah, but huh? Hmm. Yeah. Yeah. And I wonder, do you guys think that he picked up on the vibe of like her and Rhaenyra? I don't know.

[00:47:45] Like tension. I don't remember. I know that they have to, I don't know if he picked up on it, you know? Cause I think he's looking at her as somebody who is moving off of ambition. Right? Like she is trying to get closer to power. That's her thing. And he's kind of like, of course you are like, I, you know, you didn't worm Joe way through these moments. And now you think you next to the queen, but she going to pick me over you. Meanwhile, she kind of like, I don't know about that. Oh no. She's going to pick you over me, you know? And then we see kind of there are two different tactics when talking to her, you know, Damon's like, okay,

[00:48:15] come on, come on queen. We're about to go do this thing together. Bye worm. And she's like, Oh, before you go, don't forget who was loyal to you. My queen is, you know, like the, the, the, the sparring that they're doing just for her, like social sparring that they're doing just for, you know, influence over her. I don't, I don't really know if he's picking up on the other implications of their relationship, Mari. I was just wondering, cause, cause he was, cause that thing where he's like, Oh, I see you picked up a new advisor.

[00:48:44] And she was like, I don't, I don't need to ask your permission. And that look between them. I was like, okay. Yeah. Yeah. I know. I was like, it was like, I don't know. I don't know. Do you, do you think the relationship between, um, the white worm and Rhaenyra is, it's going to like lean toward romance, Taryn, or is this, is this her looking for almost like political and social gain? I, until Mari asked that question,

[00:49:13] I'd completely forgotten it happened. And then I was like, Oh yeah, there's some tension there. Do I think it's going to go anywhere? I mean, was, didn't they also do that with Danny at one point? They, they did. There was a moment where I was like, Danny girl. Okay. I see you. Um, you know, it, it, it gets. Yeah. Myceria helps Rhaenyra feel, feel powerful. Right.

[00:49:42] That she's been there and she's been there in all of those moments where Rhaenyra feels the least powerful and she helps her feel powerful in different ways, different aspects, you know, using her body as well. We have some of them while sometimes, but like it, it, it's that switch. Like Rhaenyra is so submissive with Damon and then she, you know, can be the dominant one in the relationship with myceria.

[00:50:11] It's she, Rhaenyra is just living every bisexual's dream. And she's just out here just thugging it. Yeah. They fighting over her. She's, she's just living her best life. Um, the other thing I wanted to flag up when it comes, I think you talked about as well, the, the, the bastards off and Hugh have left their station and Damon's not okay with that. He's like, I thought y'all was supposed to be waiting on Vagard to show up. He's like, well, he didn't show up. I waited two days. Is that not, that wasn't enough. I'm with the bastards on this one. Me too.

[00:50:41] I mean, like, uh, like surely everyone's been at a job where you're told to do a thing and then you end up like, wait, what, this isn't what I expect. Am I supposed to do? But, but that's not, this is not what they said, but that should I go back and ask or is that annoying? Should I just, should I stay here? Uh, and then it's like, no matter what you do, they're going to be mad at you because what they thought was going to happen doesn't happen. No, he was mad.

[00:51:10] So you just pretend to do the work. Right. Right. You're like, I did a thing kind of. I've tried both ways. Mari. It doesn't know. It doesn't. If you stay there and do not, they come. Why didn't you say something? I thought this. I thought I just. And then if you go and ask like, oh, what, what you can't figure it out. Follow simple instructions. There's no winning. No, this was, this was bad for them. Damon gets a good hate into all for sure.

[00:51:36] Uh, we kind of, you know, he's dealing with you, but, um, he's not, he's not happy with either of them because they're using their brains. They're not just following the instructions. They were supposed to just wait until Vhagar showed up, which is already a big ask. That's Vhagar. That's you. Like, it's like, wait here for a couple of days. I did. I literally waited two days for a killing machine to show up and it didn't come. So I took that as a sign for one of the gods. Hey, I gotta go. It's time to literally.

[00:52:01] Until they were those like soldiers that like lived the rest of their lives on those islands, you know, just like waiting forever. Like they would have been, they would have gotten old. And they're just, and it's stupid because why are you having two dragons sit out of the battle of the gullet? You know what I'm saying? Like could have used them there. They should have been, they should have been the ones getting those, you know, spears chucked at. Yeah.

[00:52:29] I mean, especially look, if you got to sacrifice somebody, Ulf, not a bad sacrifice. You know what I'm saying? Just saying like, rather lose Ulf than Jace. So something to think about for sure. We got a question in our email. Recapkickback at gmail.com from Laura. It says, hey, hey. So I just had a question. Season three, episode one, when the bastards are waiting on Vhagar. Who and what was that person with the antlers that they saw before they saw the witch? Mari, who them people?

[00:52:58] Who them people? Outside of Harrenhal, there's this island. I think we kind of talked about it. And it's called the Isle of Faces. It's like a longstanding kind of like shrine to the first men who are kind of the akin of like the children of the forest that we saw in Game of Thrones. And so the Isle of Faces and the first men have this.

[00:53:27] The Isle of Faces is like mystical. It's like spiritual. It normally has like lots of weirwoods on it. Still, again, that connection to the Game of Thrones. And that creature person that we see are the green men. The green men inhabit the Isle of Faces. And again, they're like very old mythical creatures that while there are dragons in the world, you know, magic still exists here.

[00:53:57] So that is their island. That is their space. Often travelers come to the space. They say that there might be an oracle somewhere on there, if I remember correctly. I can't remember at what time period. But it's just a very mystical, magical place. It's a very spiritual place. And they saw a green man, which is a spiritual man creature. Okay. Thank you. Yeah.

[00:54:25] If you have any questions and you want to submit a question, of course, you can leave it in our YouTube comments or you can email us recapkidback at gmail.com. Amari, we got to talk about Larys Strong and Aegon. They're beefing a little bit because Larys gave away Aegon's identity last episode, which has gotten them basically arrested and taken toward Rhaenyra. But they are stopped because the triarchy is running wild. And now they're able to get free. What did you think about this scene where Aegon makes basically a shank out of or a shiv?

[00:54:55] I don't know what the medieval term of it is. But he figures out a way to fashion something, a stabby pointy thing and basically free himself from captivity. Classic road trip shenanigans. These two hooligans. I mean, for a guy that was bedridden, like basically up until he left, it's pretty, pretty decent job of stabbing there. How much time has passed?

[00:55:24] Yeah. Yeah. But who knows? It seems like it's been a couple of days. It's got to be more than that. It's got to be because how long did it take them to get the letter to Damon? You know, he found out relatively quickly about Jason's death. That's true. Yeah. You know, I was like, y'all ain't got postal service. Did you send an owl? You know, like how did this happen? A rape or whatever the case may be. You know, I don't know how fast they move.

[00:55:49] Yeah, I would I would get thrown over the bridge trying to answer that question. Yeah. How fast this is. This is a I got you. Thank you. This is this is like Game of Thrones season like six, seven and eight like time movement. You know what I'm saying?

[00:56:11] And it's like people are moving around the board and time is not as like well projected as like the first few seasons where we know that it's like they're trucking along these maps. It's years later, you know, type thing. But it should. I believe Taryn, I was going to say correct me if I'm wrong, but if you remember, doesn't

[00:56:39] the whole entire dance like a really, really bloody war parts. It's only like two years, I believe. Like, I think we talked about it. It's like the actual battles and bloodiness is two years. Meanwhile, it took us 20 years to get here. I mean, which makes sense. I mean, you know, especially when you have dragons, it's like wars only gonna last so long till one side wins.

[00:57:08] But yeah, I think in the show, it's very much they're following the logic of how long does it take? Whatever, whatever it needs to take to make the scene cool. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. How long is a year even? You know, it's like we're not using our typical calendar anyway. You know what I'm saying? So wait, it would wouldn't it take months for Damon to get from wherever he was to the thing? No, he flies on the dragon, dummy. Like, oh, yeah. But what about it?

[00:57:38] Doesn't it take a while? Like, Alison was gone a few days. So like, when does when is then? Who cares? That's what I think that's how I feel. Who cares? The timeline has been so confusing. Um, we talked about it a little bit last week, but like, again, me and James are sitting here like, what is where are we at? And it's the timeline is so confusing because some storylines are like there are we always

[00:58:05] say there's touchstones in like when the history like there's, there's historical cornerstones of stuff that has to happen to get to like the end of the dance of the dragon. And some storylines are like being presented past a touchstone type thing while some are still behind it. So it just is very confusing. So, um, Laris wants to go to Duskendale, but Agon says we're going to Rook's rest where

[00:58:35] Kristen Cole and Alison's people are located. So he's going to go try to find a little backup. Um, but we got to talk about Alison and what she has going on because this is the culmination of her big plan. She is like, hey, I'm trying to get Rhaenyra on that throne, but she's got, you know, some, some hiccups to deal with. You know, Agon is gone and he was her big bargaining chip. Uh, she also doesn't really want her name attached to some of the things going on as she's pushing this agenda.

[00:59:03] When she goes and talks to the gold cloaks in their locker room, Mari, and she's like, yeah, Queen Helena said, I said, girl, what? She's like, yeah, Queen Helena has a plan. She talked to Rhaenyra, uh, you know, but you just got to follow it. Right. Right. And, um, for a split second, I thought they might've had her back. They did not. And things came crashing down around her. She almost got S8, Mari. It was so kind of ridiculous to me because, um, in the kind of like behind the scenes thing,

[00:59:33] they're like, Alison is doing all of this to protect, uh, Helena, Queen Helena. But I'm like, but she's using her as a pawn just as she herself was once used as a pawn. So it was kind of weird. I was like, that doesn't curl over all for me, all the way for me. But as she's making her moves, Sir Jasper, which is so funny because half of this time, James was like, who is that? I was like, it's the master of laws. Who is that?

[01:00:02] Uh, uh, Jasper? Like I was. Random guy we're supposed to hate so that we feel good when his head comes off in this episode. It worked. What I named him. It worked. I hated him. Exactly. Exactly. Because I was like, I was, oh my God. As soon as he closed that door, I was like, oh my God, why are we on this bullshit? Like I was so mad because last week, Chappelle, we talked about it.

[01:00:28] Like poor Alison just keeps these situations of people just wanting to like basically use her for her body and stuff like that. And it was like, what was your thought process here, sir? Like what was your, what was your thought? Did you think this all the way through? So you're just going to essay the, the Dowager queen, the queen mother. And then what was going to happen? Like, what was your thoughts there? Like it, it, it was so stupid.

[01:00:55] And I hated the scene so much because, you know, Game of Thrones, uh, always that we're always talking about like, like useless sex scenes, uh, assault scenes in it. And I was just like, what is the point of this? Um, luckily Grandmaster Orwell, who is just having the worst few weeks just ever, uh, comes in in time.

[01:01:26] And Taryn, every time I see him, I'm just like, he can't wait to get to that diary and write this down. So you got all the mess. Yeah. I, I, I'm so with you, Mari. I, this just felt so gratuitous in a way that like, I'm not even necessarily like usually the first person to point that out.

[01:01:50] Like, you know, I'm not particularly sensitive to it, but it really felt like it did not need to be here at all. That scene literally would have been, I think in many ways, like more of like an existential threat to Alison if he had just come in to threaten to reveal her plan. And it's like, well, what does she do about that? There's nothing like, is she going to try to physically stop him?

[01:02:18] Like that's, but instead they just went to this like weird trope that you're right. Like it makes no sense. Like, what is the plan there? Uh, like, like just so out of nowhere and, and it, and it's all in support of, I guess, this sort of, again, like overall theme that I thought came across pretty well enough when her son kissed her. Like, uh, you know, like I feel like we just had that and that was a much more effective

[01:02:48] way of communicating that idea than this random interaction, which you're just, which is just supposed to make, you know, Orwell come out as a bit of a hero. And then you really hate this guy. So when he gets beheaded, you're like, yeah, screw, screw him after all. Right. Um, and it's just like, it did not need, it was so unnecessary. I, I really didn't like it. Yeah, this is bad. This is bad. I didn't like none of this at all. I was just kind of like, Oh, I hope she gets out of this somehow. Right.

[01:03:16] Cause the whole time you're thinking she was already warned. Hey, well you need to stay. The block is hot. Don't go too far away from the security system. She's like, I got it. I got things to do. You know, she's trying to make her moves. He comes in and some, for some reason finding out that she, uh, is committing treason really just decided to make him want to do some wild stuff. And it was like, well, that doesn't make, okay. Your motivation here. It's crazy. Um, she's saved by Orwell. Uh, and then he is taken away, uh, to, you know, be later on beheaded last words.

[01:03:46] Tell my wife, tell my wife was like, sir, we got to tell your wife exactly what we saw you doing. Actually. How about that? Um, so yeah, it was, it was, it was a tough day, but Alison has so many things. She's got to juggle. She got to get her Helena out of the way because Helena cannot be chilling in the uh, in the castle when Rhaenyra and Damon show up, because if they do, it's going to, we're going to see exactly what happened with Otto where it's like, okay, a guy's not here.

[01:04:12] Somebody got to die or he's still in charge and we can't allow it to be Helena. And we can't, we don't want it to be Alison. She definitely don't want it to be her. So she's taken off as well. She eventually finds her way back in, but right after, um, Otto is beheaded. And there is this like exchange of looks, right? Where she looks down, she can, she's like processing. Okay. My dad's dead. He's also treasonous. So that's to be expected. Rhaenyra did this.

[01:04:41] I told her to basically do this, you know, not to kill my dad, but this was the goal, right? She was supposed to come in here and kill somebody. I was okay with it being Aegon. Maybe if I squint, I'm okay with it being my dad. I feel like she was just going through too many range, like such a range of emotion. And then she looks up and sees Rhaenyra on the throne and Rhaenyra doesn't look satisfied. She also kind of looks disheveled by what happened. At least to me, Mari. I didn't think she looked like, yeah, I did it. I killed your daddy and I'll kill the next one too.

[01:05:08] Like, you know, it just felt like she was going through and they both were in that same exact moment. Yeah. It looked like they tried to make it seem like, like she was struggling. Then she saw Allison. She was like, oh, put it together. This don't look great. But then she was like, but now I got to stand 10 toes down. Like, I feel like that's what it felt like. And so I think this is supposed to be the visual mark of like, this is supposed to be maybe

[01:05:38] the turning point for Rhaenyra. So we'll probably, we'll probably, we will see, you know, next week. Yes. The hardening. Yeah. Um, we will see next week how this affects Rhaenyra. Mm. And Allison too, right? Yeah. Well, and here's, here's like another issue that I had with like the length of time from the previous season. And, and also, I guess in a way like the divergence because Allison comes in, sees Otto and I was

[01:06:08] like, how did she feel about Otto last? I can't remember. Right. Is she super mad or does she still love him? I don't remember. I don't remember. Uh, and so like, I was just trying to remember what, how she might be feeling. And then we cut to Rhaenyra. And it was a good shot of Rhaenyra at the end. It mimics the ending of season one in many ways, uh, which I thought was, was good for what was supposed to be the ending of season two.

[01:06:36] Um, but, uh, but yeah, it, it, it, it did lose a little impact, I think again, because of that. But, um, but yeah, the shot lingering on, on Rhaenyra, I really, really enjoyed. And, and I, and I think that like the hesitancy, the steps walking, uh, through the blood, the bloody footprints, the shot of, uh, of her sitting down on the throne reflected in Otto's blood, um, was all really cool stuff.

[01:07:03] Um, and again, like sort of very different than how I think it was envisioned in, in the book, but in a way that like, I think worked for this character really well and was really compelling to me in this moment. So I, I really enjoyed this whole, this whole sequence. Yeah. They put this plan together, um, as a team, you know, there's an allotant plan. Rhaenyra acted it out. You know, they, they, they got to the end result that they wanted. Right. Um, you know, not, not so much. We didn't really get our Aegon, you know, sacrifice, but for, for all intents and purposes is this is a success for her.

[01:07:33] She wanted to give the power up, let Rhaenyra have what she wants. And so now we get to see what Rhaenyra looks like when she's in charge, but I wonder now what the relationship is going to be between the two of them. Right. Because, um, I think when we talk about, you know, what the book was depicting is these two women at war. Now it seems like, okay, we're on the same page, but you still kill my dad, you know, and I don't know if there's lingering feelings because of that. And then on the other, on the flip side, Rhaenyra has lost a lot of people too.

[01:07:57] So are they going to be able to come together and work like as a tandem is Alison also going to be one of the people vying for social influence over Rhaenyra, or is she really going to just be like, all right, you got to take off and then take off and leave and let everything just be, I really don't know. But, uh, Alison's other son has gone to Harrenhal and, um, very excited to talk about Damon, uh, and Amon and the way that they, and Amon at the, as a way that they kind of parallel

[01:08:26] each other because we saw, um, Damon at Harrenhal and how that looked. And then we saw Amon pull up at Harrenhal, almost exactly the same, like drag on the dragon. What's up? Let's fight. But he just goes to start killing people. And by the end of the scene, he gets stabbed. He gets poked up a little bit, falls out and he's begging this, uh, Alice rivers, the witch, the same witch that told Damon, uh, never come back is now looking at Amon. Like, do I help you or not? You know?

[01:08:55] So I I'm excited Mari to see what this relationship is going to be, you know, assuming he's alive. You know, I have to assume he didn't just go out like this cause it'd be kind of weak. Yeah. Um, exactly. Like the parallels first between the arrivals of Harrenhal, like Amon just being so young and bloodthirsty and poor Sir Simon didn't, he didn't deserve that. He did not deserve that at all.

[01:09:21] Um, but just killing everybody, but then getting stabbed. And not only was it a parallel from Damon's original taking of Harrenhal to me, I thought it was also a parallel of how Damon and Rhaenyra take the red keep because Damon fought five dudes and didn't, didn't get a scratch on him. You know what I'm saying?

[01:09:44] And again, it's that Amon, that Amon wanting to be Damon, but just falling short, you know, every time. And, uh, Amon, you know, he's going to, he's hardheaded. He don't have to learn a lesson and get, getting poked up in your kidney. I think that, that that's going to be a lesson. That's, that's your lesson right there. Mm. Yeah. Um, he's like, he's, he's just like Damon Jr.

[01:10:11] You know, um, he, he too tried to have sex with his mom, you know? So Taryn, I don't know what this means for him now that it looks like the, the one, the other deviation between him and Damon is going to be that he is actually probably going to form some type of a relationship with Alice Rivers, whereas Damon is kind of just laughed in her face. So, um, you know, I don't know if it's in the book or not, not to get into any spoilers, but could you see these two working together in the future?

[01:10:36] I mean, I don't see like Eamon being any wiser than Damon when in dealing with her, but I do think that he, because he is more impressionable, um, and in a way more easily manipulated and vulnerable, uh, she may see this as an opportunity to get what she wants out of somebody that's a little more pliable. Uh, and so that may actually help the mesh a little better than she did with Damon. Yeah. Yeah.

[01:11:05] I can see a world Mari where she's like, Hey, I really want Heron Hall. So what can I do to help you out? You know? And then now he's back, but he's empowered now by whatever witchcraft, you know, and sorcery that she has at her disposal. Yeah. I mean, cause like Damon said, um, she helped him. Did she? Right. Has she, you know, like we said, like, she seems like she wants to just be a little bit just help herself.

[01:11:35] So why not? Why not see what you can get out of saving the Prince Regent's life? Right. Right. So, um, Mari, is there anything else from the episode that you want to flag up before we get into the book corner and talk about, you know, kind of setting the stage for where we would be in the book in relationship to where we are currently?

[01:11:59] Um, no, I, I, I think we covered everything, but, um, yeah, this is a great episode and I'm so glad we all got to talk about it. Yeah. I'm good. Yes. Okay. Taryn, anything you want to flag up as well? Um, before we, uh, let Mari remind us about the things that happened in this book you read so long ago? Uh, no, I mean, honestly, I, I've, I've talked about my quibbles, but I think I was more pessimistic

[01:12:27] coming into this because I often feel like despite the big battle scenes being technically well done, I often find myself kind of like, oh, but this makes no sense. Uh, and like frustrated by the logistics of a lot of them. And I think that for the most part, actually the battle scenes worked out pretty well. Um, you know, did it make the most sense for Rhaenyra and, uh, Daemon to walk, uh, by themselves through the halls of the King's Landing?

[01:12:56] Uh, yeah, maybe not, but, um, but you know, it was fine for like visually what it was. And apart from that, like a lot of this stuff did really click with me. And I actually, I really loved, you know, this wasn't this episode, but I really loved the sea battle, uh, and how that, how they sort of played that out. Um, so, uh, I was pleasantly surprised by these episodes and I think my expectations weren't too high and that, that made me enjoy them a little more. I really enjoyed it as well.

[01:13:24] I think mostly because I felt like the big tension for me was, is the Alicent Rhaenyra plan going to work? Are they actually going to be able to pull this off? Or is there going to be a misconnection that further, you know, like fuels this fight between the two of them where it's like every time they try to bring it together, they just could never quite, you know, a son dies here. A dad dies here. Misunderstanding. Yeah. Like, damn it. I was trying to tell you, I was trying to help you. Oh my God. Like I thought we were going to do that again.

[01:13:50] And, but now that we've kind of got that out the way, I'm now excited to see now what happens right now. Right. Nira is on the throne. The, um, gold cloaks had her back. The high towers have kneeled and people are pledging fealty and all that kind of stuff. Otto is dead. Cool. Now what? And so I'm very excited to see what comes next. And, uh, we're very excited to talk about that next week. But so if you are listening to this and, uh, you are only listening to our episode recaps, this is your time to go ahead and tap out.

[01:14:19] But if you want to hear more about the books and what they have going on at this point in the books, uh, this is the time to, um, stick around for Mari's book corner. Maester Mari is back. Library is open, Mari. Tell everybody, uh, you know, where do you want to start when it comes to, um, the book and, uh, the things that happened in this episode. Mostly again, we're just, we're going to set the scene to remind everybody where everybody

[01:14:46] is talk about maybe some of the differing motivations as to their movements and stuff like that. So, uh, of course, um, main plot point Ray Nira is now in Queens landing. She is taken over Queens landing, her Damon. Uh, in, in the show, it is the two bastards. We have Ulf and Hugh Hammer are all with her.

[01:15:14] Um, and in the show, again, it's her and Alison working together in the books. It wasn't that Alison, like basically the show gave Alison this covert mission to unlock the gates. One, I think it's so she'll have something to do. Like literally they, like she needs something to do, but I guess it's also to show that,

[01:15:40] that like all of that was done, but it was done under the cloak of darkness. It was done like by emissaries. You know what I'm saying? Like it kind of like, um, uh, last season when we saw Miss area send her notes to the, the, the handmaiden that was in within the red keep and how they were able to send the food. That's how it really happened. You know what I'm saying?

[01:16:06] Rainier and Damon, they come to take the city and Alison and the greens think, oh, we finna fight. And everybody like, no, we not. The gold folks are like, no, we laying, we laying all this down because they had already had people that had, had infiltrated. So they're, they're giving, um, Alison some of the credit for this. And it's still just, again, doesn't curl all the way over for me because her motivation for it.

[01:16:34] Show wise just still doesn't make sense because you did all this. You said you'd open the red key, dah, dah, dah, dah. You were trying to keep you Helena and a princess to Harris, to Harris safe, but y'all didn't have an exit strategy. You out there in the street, like trying to leave to like, it doesn't make, it doesn't make sense to me.

[01:16:56] When I, when I saw them in the street with hoods in broad daylight, I was like, excuse me. This was the grand plan. I was not shocked when they got caught, you know, it was not when they get dragged in. I was like, yeah, about time. You're right about that. They didn't really have a way out. I don't know. Maybe it just took her too long. You know, has she been able to get the, the people.

[01:17:23] It just seems like the most important part of the plan was you getting out. If you mess up a little bit with Rhaenyra and she gets killed. Oh, well. Oh, well. Yeah. I ain't here. Good. Like the whole point is that you get away. Yeah. Made absolutely no sense to me. Um, but they're there, they're there. So now we're going to see their reaction and the fallout from all of that.

[01:17:51] Uh, so, uh, we see the Valerians, Valerians, Valerians. Cause you know, it's Valerian. Valerians. Valerians. Valerians. Yes. Right. Um, right now they, they're at the fune. They are coping with the loss of Driftmark. Um, so it'll be interesting to see how these characters are incorporated for the, um, in the next coming episodes.

[01:18:20] Um, because I, I have a feeling that a lot of the action is going to be in King's Landing, right? Like Rhaenyra, the queen has landed. So a lot of the action might be taking away from where they're at. So it was kind of good just to see them come together. Decompress maybe. And, um, wait for further instructions. Like Damon said, don't think. Wait for instructions.

[01:18:46] Um, we have a, we have a comment in our YouTube section from, uh, Satoria Tomberlin, five, three, one, seven. First of her name, uh, says in all caps, where are the children? In the books, Jace goes to the gullet to save his little brother, Viserys. Last we saw them, they were sailing to Pinto sans Rhaena. Also, the true religion of Westeros in the book and the show is misogyny. So everyone's treatment of Rhaenyra is not surprising. Uh, Mari, where are the kids?

[01:19:17] Yeah, I don't, that's what I'm saying. I don't understand what they're doing. But so, of course, Prince, Prince. And that's another thing too, because. Prince Joffrey is supposed to still be in the veil. I believe. Um, while, uh, uh, Prince Aegon and then Prince Viserys, the two kids from, uh, Rhaenyra and Damon,

[01:19:45] they're the ones that are sent off to Pinto's because, you know, Damon, their father has the, um, has the connection in Pinto's. And then Joffrey is supposed to stay in the veil with his tiny dragon to protect Lady Erin. So even the show hasn't, like, there are three kids left, y'all. There are three male children left. I have to bullhorn that. Rhaenyra has three male children left.

[01:20:11] The show, I don't know if they're, I don't think they're keeping count. Um, and it's right. Our YouTube comment is true because at the end of last season, we saw, um, uh, the Aegon and Viserys leave and Reyna was supposed to go with them. Remember Lady Jane was like, oh, she thought they was going with them. Reyna peels off to go get Sheep Stealer. And the two boys are supposed to be sent out to Pinto's.

[01:20:40] They are supposed to have bad timing where their boat is supposed to, um, meet the, the fleet coming from, um, the, the, the, what was it? The bitch fish. The bitch fish. Yeah. The bitch fish. Um, uh, what's her name? Uh, Laura. We, I just said her name eight times last episode, but the one that Alan killed, um, she's supposed to take them hostage.

[01:21:06] So the fact that that didn't happen and, and there's some more stuff that's supposed to happen that I'm going to give them grace as to when it does happen, but they, they were, their ship was supposed to meet her ship. So I don't know where they're going to stick that. I don't know. Terry. Um, so yeah, I, I, I mentioned this to you guys before the,

[01:21:35] but like I read the books or read the book, uh, like more than six years ago at this point. And on, on top of the, the, having read it so long ago and my memory being a civ, uh, like the, the show deviating so far, I'm so lost in where things are supposed to be and go. Uh, I know the broad strokes, but yeah, stuff like where the children are and how they're

[01:22:05] going to do certain things without the children being where they are right now. I'm very confusing to me. Yeah. Exactly. We had another YouTube comment that said being a song of ice and fire fan means bitching about a song of ice and fire. Most of the time, uh, another great episode and Maury's corner. So it seems like the other book readers are kind of aligned where it's like a part of enjoying this show is knowing I got to complain about how different it is and the things that they're

[01:22:32] doing in the book or then, you know, in the TV show. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, like we teed up, Amon is now in Harrenhal. Um, uh, he is injured with the bastard Alice rivers. So we'll see, um, what his next move is that that's pretty much true to the book, but

[01:22:56] like in the book, he kind of meets nobody at Harrenhal because the, the armies kind of slip around him and yeah, he's thinking he's going in for a battle and all this stuff, but Damon, his forces, they have, they've gotten to King's landing, um, to take King's landing because another thing that the, if you want to call it the sacking of King's landing, depending

[01:23:22] on what, what, uh, team you're on or Rainier, Rainier is triumphant return to King's landing is a surprise. Again, it's, it's a surprise to the people, the actual people of King's landing. So they're just like, they just see dragon circling and they like, oh, you know, so, um, it's all a surprise. It's all an outmaneuver. It kind of reminds me of what they did with like Tyrion trying to take over Casterly Rock.

[01:23:51] Um, in the season seven, I believe. And if they go to take over Casterly Rock and it like the garrison that they thought was there is not there. And that's, that's essentially what was supposed to happen. Um, but he, he's there. Let's see if Eamon gets, uh, stuck in, in Harrenhal for four episodes. Like, you know, if he really wants to be like his, uh, great uncle. Yeah.

[01:24:16] Um, so, uh, Aegon, which was one of the, the bigger deviations, um, Aegon, and it, Aegon leaving before Rhaenyra taking King's landing affected so much in the TV show. Like everybody, where's Aegon? Oh, now I'm the prince. Now I got to do this.

[01:24:41] Like it affected so much in the TV show when in the books, they think he's there until again, Rhaenyra rolls up and says, where's Aegon? And that's when everybody's like, Oh snap, where is Aegon? You know? And so them messing with that timing, it's weird. I don't know what, like, I do know why, cause they used it as different characters' motivations, but to me, it just doesn't, I didn't like it.

[01:25:08] I didn't, I didn't think they needed to do that. I have a question. So in the show, we saw Aegon separate and say, all right, I'm going to Kristen Cole because, you know, that's the team that's going to have my back. Um, but that, that, this group, this faction, Aegon, Kristen Cole, all of them, they don't know about Allison's plan still, right? Are they, are they finding out about this, um, in the real time? Like, are they going to, well, not, are they like, don't tell me, but to me, I'm understanding this, that Allison did this behind their backs.

[01:25:38] I don't remember her running this past her people. And so now Aegon, Kristen Cole, all those people, they still think that Aegon is in charge, you know, in whatever way they still think the greens are in charge, but, uh, it looks like they're going to find out in a very weird way that no, that is not the case. Is that how it was in the book? I mean, it couldn't have been right. Well, again, they, what they know in the book is that, um, for all the things that they

[01:26:08] thought that they had did to make the city watch loyal to them and the people within the red keep loyal to them was for not because there were still infiltrations. Like they had removed all the seven captains that they thought were loyal to Damon and the gold cloaks. But the moment that the dragon started circling, the people who were still loyal said not started cutting, cutting the, like slitting the throats of the gold cloaks who were for Aegon.

[01:26:35] So it's like the whole plot itself is, is unknown to the green. So Aegon, Kristen Cole, uh, Aemon, none of them are going to know that Alicent was behind it because, you know, maybe as of right now, they don't even know yet that Rhaenyra took, took King's landing. Um, yeah.

[01:26:59] So yeah, Aegon is trying to reunite with Kristen Cole, uh, in the riverlands, you know, Laris makes a great suggestion. Let's go to Duskendale. Duskendale is a, a pretty big city, pretty walled off, um, secure. It's still on currently under, um, the greens command. So that seems like that would be a great, um, choice.

[01:27:25] Rook's Rest is the, the, um, the battle where Aegon, you know, fell and Aegon says he wants to go to Rook's Rest to, um, meet up with Kristen Cole. But I would also wonder if he has a second agenda because as far as we know, Sunfire is still there, you know, type thing. So yeah, Aegon, Aegon's journey here.

[01:27:55] Um, it'll be interesting because in the book, Aegon's just, he kind of just pops up places. He just kind of goes AWOL for a while and then it's like, and now I'm here. Yeah. Huh. It's funny y'all mention that. Taron, uh, in this episode, he says, I'm going to Rook's Rest, but we also saw Kristen Cole said, we're going to hair and all. So is he going to get there and anybody going to even be there?

[01:28:21] I, I, I, I guess, uh, you, I mean, you would assume that two people would be able to catch up to a big army, but the two people we're looking at aren't the quickest. Uh, so I don't know. Yeah. Both of them are a little, uh, they've been through, they got some wear and tear, the two of them. And so, yeah, I can imagine that it might take a little while for them to make it over there. Mari, they get there and there's nobody at Rook's Rest. I'm going to scream.

[01:28:51] Exactly. Exactly. So it, yeah, where they, they, what they do with Aegon is going to be very interesting because if they, if they spell it out, if they start to spell his movements out, it's going to kind of not be fun to be quite honest, because like Karen says, he, he pops up places and you're like, what? Like, it's like, it's, it's kind of a, a, a, like fun moments in the book.

[01:29:21] So if we're just like, if we're doing the whole game of Thrones thing, it's, it's very Arya and the Hound of like, we're watching you trudge along. I don't know if that's something I'm going to really like, but it's fine for, as of right now. Um, something I kind of want to tee up that we saw in the first episode that we'll probably see more in the third episode is.

[01:29:48] So King's Landing is, King's Landing has fallen. Sir Otto's head is off his shoulders. Um, Alicent and Helena are prisoners. Prisoners. A costume. Yeah. Gotta be prisoners. So the, there's a big high tower host that we saw in episode one led by, we said his name in episode one. It's, uh, Alison's cousin. Orwell.

[01:30:18] Ormond. Ormond. Ormond. Yes. Yes. And we got a sneak peek of Dayron. Here's another child. Uh, Alison's third son, her final youngest son, uh, Dayron. Um, who canonically is what? Oh, he, him and Jace were the same age. So canonically he was like 15, 15 or 16.

[01:30:43] Um, his dragon to Sarian, uh, a beautiful blue dragon. We, we see a glimpse of her, of, of this dragon and we saw, um, the host, uh, the high tower host. So it seems like we have, uh, Ormond high tower. We have Dayron and to Sarian, uh, they are gearing up for some sort of battle. Um, we'll see that soon.

[01:31:11] We'll see where they maneuver, um, in the next few episodes. Other than that, are there any other characters we forgot to place on the map? Um, not that I can't think of anybody from the show we haven't touched on. Currently Raina is in the veil apparently. Yeah. And we, we don't know what they finna do with her because like we said in the last week's

[01:31:36] book corner, she is meshed with a character named Nettles who the character Nettles herself is kind of like mysterious in a way. So I, I said on the book corner, I don't necessarily mind them, um, comparing their two characters, which I did feel like at the end of episode one here at episode two, I'm just confusion because of, again, that scene we saw with her and lady Jane, but, um, you know, we'll just have to see where that unfolds.

[01:32:05] Cause they're just making it up as they go. So Raina is in the veil with, uh, YN Sheep Stealer and, uh, we'll see how that goes. They don't know that there was Raina that was on, on Sheep Stealer. That's what, yeah, that's what I realized. And I, I, I, again, saw her, but he did, I think like show cannon Jace saw her, but he died. I don't think her sister saw her. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Cause what is it?

[01:32:34] Rhaenyra's telling the story to Damon. Damon. Yeah. And she, and he's like, Hey, um, there's another dragon out there. Damon's like, how did they get another dragon? I was like, it's your dragon. This is your people. You know, it's crazy. Um, yeah, I, I, I didn't even catch that the first time around that only the only witness that saw that it was her is now, you know, at the bottom of the gullet. Right. And that's what she even said, like, she even said like, I, nobody saw me or whatever.

[01:33:00] So, uh, yeah, eventually, you know, if, if Rhaenyra tells Damon to do something, Damon's going to go do it. So I, I'm, I'm pretty sure once they lock that down, he'll probably go investigate. Okay. Um, anything else in the book corner? No, no. Taryn. Yeah. Yeah. No. Um, well, I think there's maybe the sense that like, there's a thing that was, that

[01:33:29] was supposed to happen at the end of this episode that didn't happen. Something that I thought would be like part of the finale of season two, which is like when Rhaenyra first sits on the throne. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Like obviously like lore is the like true, true Kings don't get cut by the swords. Um, and so like, it's a big, it's a big thing. It's a big change that they seemingly have made, which is that like when Rhaenyra takes

[01:33:57] King's landing and sits on the throne, she like nicks her hand or whatever. And it's like, Oh shit. Like, and that's like, that's a big deal. Right. Um, if for a lot of reasons. And so they don't have it here. And, and I think it's because the Rhaenyra in the book takes King's landing in, in, in a rage. Like she, she storms the city and revenge for Jace's death.

[01:34:26] And she's full of what seems like conviction and, uh, and confidence. And just like, this is my fiery fury. And then sits on the throne and like having, like having that seed of doubt planted in theoretically everyone's mind, uh, is like, Oh, whereas in this version and this character, uh, to have her cut her hand when she says it would have been redundant at this point, because

[01:34:55] like every piece of how she was acting to that point was, was that she was like, you know, like what do I don't want to do with it? Yeah. Um, like slowly walking up to the throne. Like, so I, I sort of get why they might've cut that moment. It's, I think a lot of people love that moment because it's such a, you don't expect it because

[01:35:21] you kind of expect the, what seems like the true meant to be ruler to not have a moment of like superstitious, uh, rejection like that. Um, but instead they, they, they sort of did it the reverse way where she's full of doubts and reluctance, um, and then sits on the throne and sort of comes into her own again, has this hardening. I think I did a pretty good job. Does that look like a face of doubt, Taryn to you?

[01:35:53] Yes. Uh, I thought it was interesting. I'm still holding out hopes, Taryn, that it is in the next episode. I mean, cause we didn't see her get up from the chair, right? We just saw her sit down. So I think what I could see is if the idea is that now that she's lopped a head off and she's staring Alison down and she's hardening and she's becoming more like the Rainier we

[01:36:18] know from the book, uh, that her time spent in King's Landing may eventually lead to at some point cutting herself on the throne, whether it's right now or later, uh, to, to make us come to that realization, maybe a little bit later in the, in the story. That's possible. I truly can't see them not putting that in there, especially since it would be such a good

[01:36:46] tie-in to, um, her daddy, uh, Viserys cutting his, his finger in the, in the first season. Like it feels like something that they really should add in there. So I'm just holding out hope that they eventually, uh, do do it. But well, well that's it is for us, but book readers, it's a big part. Well, that popped in my mind when Taryn said it. Cause of course I didn't know that that was a thing, but I, my, I immediately went back to Viserys sitting there getting cut up, you know?

[01:37:14] And so if it's, if it's a thing where if Viserys wasn't a true ruler, how is she, you know, she would have inherited it from him correctly. And so he can't pass down somewhat that wasn't meant for him. So, you know, yeah. I mean, I think it's less so like you are destined to rule him or like, are you like a good, Oh yeah. So Viserys was bad. So yeah, he deserved to get cut a few times. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's not the, it's not the, the, the right to the throne.

[01:37:41] It's the, can you handle the power of the throne? Yeah. Okay. Well, I guess we shall see. Um, okay. Well, that was fun. Love a book corner. Cause I learned so much about what y'all already know, but it also kind of gives me some extra context to the show. And I hope that our listeners are enjoying the book corner as well. Let us know in the YouTube comments, youtube.com slash at recap kickback. Um, or you can leave comments now on Spotify as well. If you listen to us on Spotify, um, you can subscribe to us on all podcast platforms, recap kickback.com slash subscribe can help you do that.

[01:38:10] Uh, and make sure you tune in next week for our next, uh, recap episode of house of the dragon. That would be season three, episode three. Um, but until then, Taryn, thank you so much for joining us. It's been so much fun. Thank you for having me. It was a lot of fun. Yeah. Uh, what, what do you have going on? I mean, like the, the people who know you, they know what's coming for you, but, um, yeah, you got the throne of your own that you got to sit on or at least a walking, walking pad. Yeah. It is. I can walk all day long.

[01:38:41] Um, yeah. Uh, find me on Patreon. Um, I'm watching a bunch of stuff, including right now, Love Island, uh, and yeah, all kinds of nonsense going on there. Uh, so check out the Patreon. There's tons, tons of content there. And, and big brother's coming. There it is. Yeah. If y'all, if you aren't familiar with Taryn, if you look, if you're here from the house of the dragon world and you like big brother, Taryn is, uh, the number one resource for

[01:39:09] big brother information during the summertime and, uh, he will be covering it. Um, every day. I've, I've basically read all the books of big brother many times and I actually remember most of it. Yeah. Yeah. He's a bit of a maester in that world as well. Yeah. I was about to say, I was like, you wrote the book. Did you read all the books or did you write the book? Yeah. Yeah. You got your grand maester or Orwell on Orwell on. Yes, exactly.

[01:39:35] Grand, grand maester Orwell's accounts of, of these events are used as a resource in the book. So it's kind of really funny that you like that poor man. Yes. He be getting through, uh, when he, when he was like, look, I know you want to kill me, but I got something better for you. I said, all right. Orwell, I respect it. I respect it. And I definitely respect Taryn's been in his time with us, uh, here on recapkickback.com. Mari, what do you got going on in the world until the next time, uh, we hear from you, which would be very soon.

[01:40:05] Well, uh, over on crime scene, me and Sarah Carradine, we bring true crime, bring you true crime on Tuesdays. We just did a very fun episode, uh, dropping this week. It's a true crime roundup. So what we did is like me and Sarah, we picked the main topic, right? We have the main topic. We normally have a guest, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah. But we also consume a lot of just other true crime media.

[01:40:31] Oftentimes we use it as recommendations after a main topic. This time we're like, we, we actually watched a whole bunch of stuff from June that, or, um, in the past few months that we just didn't get to because there was like hotter properties to talk about. So we kind of dipped into our tastemaker's bag and just sat there and talked about all different types of, uh, true crime, uh, media that we had been consuming and we call it the true crime roundup. It's a great podcast.

[01:41:00] If you need some recommendations on, um, some, some true crime stuff to watch or listen to, we did podcast reviews on there. Just like quick, very conversational, just, Hey, we watched this. Did you watch this? I watched this, our thoughts on it, or I watched something that Sarah didn't watch and I, I'm explaining it to her. So just like real chill, kind of like real chill, um, than our, our normal setup. And it was just me and Sarah. So it was a lot of fun. So you can go to crime scene pod.com.

[01:41:28] That's crime S E E N pod.com. In order to subscribe wherever you get your, uh, your podcast, my, my light setup said it is time to go. Um, other than that, also the cups, Mari crafts too much. That big cartel.com. Get your cups, get your team green, team black cups. I also have, I also do, um, like the different houses.

[01:41:55] I made James a house Martel cup that I want to show you guys eventually. Um, but yeah, so thank you so much for the support. All right. And then here on recap, kickback, we have more house of the dragon coverage coming interview with the vampire, the vampire Lestat coverage as well coming very soon. Uh, this most recent episode should, uh, should drop tomorrow. So be there for that. And then, uh, you know, other things going on. We have our, uh, rock of love recap starting this week.

[01:42:25] Mari, uh, Chantel will be experiencing rock of love live for the first time. Um, rock of love. Yeah. Of all the shows. And so, um, Sunday we talk about, um, the flavor of love cinematic universe live on YouTube. Uh, check that out. Join the chat, join the conversation and, uh, tune in. And if you're late to that, go catch up on all of the other flavorful of content we did, uh, because we've been doing this for about a year straight. And, um, it's a lot of content out there. And so thank you for joining us for recap kickback. Thank you for supporting. Thank you for liking the video. If you haven't already liked the video, go in and do that.

[01:42:54] And then, uh, tune in next week, but that's all for Taryn, for Mari and for myself. You ain't got to go home, but we will be happy to talk to you next time on house of the dragon. Talk to you next time. Peace.